The incumbent mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, who was running for re-election, won the first round of elections with 57.41% of the vote. This is supported by official data from Poland’s National Election Commission.
Trzaskowski, one of the most prominent politicians in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party, won the first round with 444,006 votes.
Tobiasz Bochenski of the opposition Law and Justice party came in second with 178,652 votes (23.10%). He was followed by Magdalena Beyat (The Left), who received 99,442 votes (12.86%), and other candidates who received less than 5% of the vote.
Trzaskowski has been the mayor of Warsaw since 2018. Back then, he also won the election in the first round, receiving 505,187 votes (56.67%).
The local government elections in Poland on April 7 had a turnout of 51.5%.
According to exit polls, in the elections to local assemblies across the country, Law and Justice received the most votes with 33.7%, Civic Coalition with 31.9%, Third Way with 13.5%, Confederation with 7.5%, Left with 6.8%, and Non-Party Self-Governance with 2.7%. Other local electoral committees received 3.9% of the votes in the Sejm elections.
Local authorities could potentially be far from big politics and party rivalries, but in practice, local elections are part of the general election cycle.
In October 2023, the United Opposition Civic Coalition, Third Way, and New Left won the Sejm elections. The formation of Donald Tusk’s government resulted in the Law and Justice (PiS) party losing its power after eight years in office.
In addition to local government elections, this year’s elections will include members of the European Parliament in June. The current electoral cycle will culminate with Poland’s presidential election in 2025.
In these local elections, the ruling center-left coalition has every chance to increase its influence on the local government.
